Kings and Pawns
by Leaper
Summary: Bedazzled, 2000 remake. A discussion over a game of chess between two unusual players. Ending spoilers.


**AN: Just something I kept thinking about from seeing the ending sequence...**

She found him in the park, as if she knew he'd be there already. Of course, she did.

"Gabe," she said coolly, the stunning brunette who smoldered with every look, every smirk. She'd taken many forms over the centuries; at first, she valued intimidation and fear in her appearance. Besides, the patriarchies of old would hardly have respected or cowered before her natural feminine form. But as the world turned more egalitarian, she came to prefer her current look, so much closer to her actual state, still untouched from her Fall.

"Lucy," the cornrowed, dark-skinned young man in white replied (although she knew that despite his looks, he was as old as time itself; she smugly noted the fact that she was an entire three centuries younger, so HA). He too was the victim of terrestrial whitewashing, although he insisted it never bothered him. She actually believed him, the sap.

"I can't believe He sent you on a mission for one lousy mortal soul. The Gabe I knew would never be slumming like this."

"I requested this duty, actually."

She crossed her strong yet delicate arms and raised an eyebrow. "And He granted it? With everything you have to do?"

"Of course. He knows we're close."

"_Were_ close."

"If you say so." He gestured to the chessboard, already set up. "Game?"

She shrugged. "Sure. Why not?" She sat. Of course he had already set himself up as white. "I should've known He was behind this."

He started with e4. "Who said you were the only one who could contact mortals?"

She countered with c5. "I thought He was a big believer in free will."

"He is. But He also believes in reminding humanity of the Truth once in a while."

They played in silence for a while. Na6. f3. Bxd5. They played without hesitation, making each move instantly, as if they were deciding on pure impulse or random guess. In actuality, every strategic move was carefully considered and calculated swifter than the most powerful microchip man could create.

They paused once, when Elliot walked by with his girlfriend. They watched him pass, oblivious to their presence. He smiled indulgently when he caught her moving his pieces - that impossibly bright and gentle smile she remembered so well, so full of love towards all that she was almost nauseated once in a while.

"Why him?" she asked as she moved Rb7. "Of all the suckers He could've bailed out, why him?"

He shrugged as he castled. "He didn't say. I just obeyed His edict."

She snorted. "And there's the whole problem."

"Lucy..." he began warningly.

"His plan. _His_ plan!" Her voice lowered to a dangerous hiss, the same tone she used that fateful day when she first began speaking words of discontent towards her Lord. "The one He refuses to share, but that manipulates us all! Hell, He even knew what I could - would do, and still punished me for what _He_ made me do!"

He shook his head sadly as he moved Qf3. "And as we keep telling you, Lucy, that's not the way it works. His plan is more like an endgame. How we get there, all the millions of tiny events and details... that's up to humanity, and us."

"Of course He says that! Most of you are too stupid to question it! And if He were lying, who'd know?"

"Didn't you tell Elliot that humanity's responsible for most of their own happiness and suffering? Ever think it may apply to you too?"

"Maybe it would, if I hadn't been _personally_ cast down by _God Himself_!"

"Let's not fight." Bd2.

"You always were sickeningly pacifistic." Ng7.

"Anyway... Why did _you_ let Elliot go? You didn't have to honor your contract. Aren't you the one who always says you make your own rules?"

"Having the out makes winning all the sweeter, once the mark realizes he could've done the right thing all along and never did. Besides, the fun is in the process, not the destination. If I really wanted to win _all_ the time, I wouldn't screw with the marks once in a while just for fun. If someone manages to escape once every century, even with some _unwarranted_ outside interference... Well, that's the price of playing the game. I'm glad to pay it."

"So you don't miss anything?"

She snorted. "What would I miss?"

He grinned; if anything, it was more _everything_ than his smile. "You tell me."

"Whatever."

Another stretch of silence followed, only punctuated by the slight clack of the pieces on the board. Then, out of nowhere, as he completed a pawn swap, he spoke.

"He forgives you, Lucy."

Her breath hitched in her throat as she took his remaining knight. "I've always known," she said so softly, it would've taken divine hearing to understand.

He reached out to move his rook, then paused. He looked her eye-to-eye, his gaze firm but somehow pleading at the same time. "He wants you to come home. We all do."

For a moment, just a moment, the question was there, hanging in the air. For just a moment, it seemed like she was considering it. But just for a moment. Then she sneered, and the spell was broken. "Right. Sure. And give up what I have? No way. 'Tis better to reign in hell...'"

"'...Than to serve in heaven.' I know. You say that. All the time." He put a special emphasis on the last words that she didn't like at all.

"Anyway..." She paused to consider her next move, which they both knew she didn't have to. "I like to think I'm still a keeper of balance, only on a cosmic scale. Besides, how do you know I wouldn't make the universe a whole lot better if I were in charge?"

He chuckled; she bristled. "If you could do better, you'd be doing it, right now. You know that as well as I do."

"Yeah, well, He could be toying with me as part of some sick game."

"Come on, Lucy..."

She didn't reply, simply completing the offered queen sacrifice.

"You know better," he said insistently. "You've always known better. You've been in His presence. Do you really think He thinks so lowly of you?"

"He's _God_. If He wanted me to think otherwise, He'd have made me incapable of doing so. At the least, he has the power to fool me."

He shook his head sadly. "That's always been your biggest blind spot, Lucy: how you think of power. The Man has never given you any reason to distrust you."

"No. Just punishing me according to His plan."

"You're repeating yourself."

"And I will continue to until you actually _think_ about what I'm saying."

"Funny, I could say the same thing to you." He took her rook from the board, and examined the battlefield. "Huh. Stalemate. Damn."

She grinned. "We always were in each other's heads too much."

"That we were." He swept his arm across the board; the pieces disappeared. "I have to get going. Work."

"Me too. Only I'm my own boss." She stood. "I'd say it was a pleasure, but considering you screwed me out of Elliot's soul, I'd be lying too much even for me."

"It was good to see you too," he chuckled. "I've missed our games. Maybe another time?"

"Don't hold your breath." She paused. "But... maybe." She walked off, vanishing from sight in mid-stride.

He stared at the spot where she disappeared for a long moment. "Good to see you too, Lucy," he said quietly. He wasn't sure if he hoped she heard him.

Then he too was gone. Not that anyone around them noticed. They were too busy living their lives.


End file.
